Republicans' Closing Argument Failure
Republicans' closing argument for the midterms was to attack Democrats on taxes.
Their "red wave" leaned on a $148 million bet that voters would reject tax fairness in favor of trickle-down tax cuts for billionaires and corporations. They failed.
Republicans' biggest attacks this election cycle were lies about the 15% corporate minimum tax and IRS enforcement funding in the Inflation Reduction Act. Democrats were "raising taxes on the middle class" they claimed, and sending "87,000 IRS agents" after you.
Voters didn't buy it.
Their biggest problem? The tax reforms in the Inflation Reduction Act were wildly popular, especially among Independents. The same is true for Democrats' plan for a Billionaire Minimum Income Tax—with 74% support among likely voters, including 55% of Republicans.
Voters know the tax cuts passed by Republicans largely go to the wealthy and corporations and don’t benefit working people. But Republicans can't let trickle-down go. In fact, their key promise if they regain power is to extend the Trump tax cuts.
(None of this could have anything to do with the millions of dollars they're receiving in Super PAC and campaign donations from billionaires, right...?)
So what does it mean that there was no "red wave"? It means that Republicans have NO mandate to continue their plan to extend the Trump tax cuts, or to try and claw back Democrats' tax agenda.
In the end, this election IS a clear referendum on taxes—it's just not the one Republicans wanted.